Bad Little Girl 2
by Interspark
Summary: (A sequel to my most popular fanfic.) The continued adventures of the young Vampire Queen. At just 200 years old, Marceline faces her first real challenge as a Vampire Slayer, as, just as she predicted, the vampires rise up against her.
1. Chapter 1

Bad Little Girl 2

**So here it is, as requested. Bad Little Girl 2. Wasn't my favourite fanfic, but it was yours, and what can I say? I love you guys. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter One

"Are you done yet?" Marceline asked, testily.

Marceline stood, with one foot elevated, resting on a small pile of rubble. In her hands, she held a rusty, bronze, semi-circular axe in an action pose. It had been almost 200 years since she had made herself a vampire in order to survive, and her campaign to destroy all other vampires still wasn't done. It seemed like every vampire she slew had stories of other vampires they'd sired or been sired by. Her most recent target had off-handidly mentioned that he was a painter, shortly before Marceline was about to kill him, and Marceline had seen a rare opportunity to find out what she looked like, seeing as she didn't have a reflection.

The other vampire sat cross-legged, floating on the other side of an easel, making careful brushstrokes, with his tongue between his teeth in concentration. Like a true cliché artist, he was in his mid twenties, wore a beret and had a brown goatee.

"Almost… Almost…" The vampire said quietly, then he floated backwards and beamed. "I'm done!"

Marceline floated over to look at the painting. Her mouth hung open in shock. She was _not_ pleased. In the painting, Marceline's fingers ended with long claws and her hair seemed to morph into black fire half way down. Her face looked more like it did when she transformed.

"You didn't tell me you were an IMPRESSIONIST!" Marceline bellowed.

"I told you that at least three times!" The vampire argued defensively.

"What use would this be to me? I want to know what I look like! If I wanted to know how you saw me, I would have just asked!" Marceline spat.

She heaved the painting off the easel and hurled it at the ground, it caught fire and incinerated as it fell. Marceline rounded on the artist, he was gaping speechlessly at the smouldering remains of his painting. Once she stopped fuming, she placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"I just want you to know… I would have killed you, even if I liked the painting. So don't take this too personally." She said, softly. The artist vampire looked confused. Before he could process what she meant, she picked up the easel and drove it through his chest. With a ghostly wail, he turned into smoke and drifted away.

Marceline sighed, picked up the axe and floated into the air. She had been in a forest on the outskirts of a large city. The forests had dwindled dramatically under the effect of the radiation from the bombs, but they were beginning to flourish again. On the flipside, the cities were beginning to crumble. Nowadays, the tallest buildings were only around ten to fifteen stories high.

Marceline floated high into the sky. She had encountered the painter on her way towards the city, and hadn't actually set foot there yet. It was hard to tell by the dim light of the moon, but the city seemed more or less typical, a layer of broken and shattered buildings with remnants of the more intact ones poking through, with a few parks and some larger structures, like stadiums and museums, which had done a better job of standing the test of time.

Suddenly, Marceline squinted down at the city, she had noticed something. It was hard to see in the dark… but it couldn't be… Marceline nosedived towards the city as fast as she could. As she approached, she realised her suspicion was correct. Covering the entire city, was a massive web of gelatinous, pink strands. They stuck to the rubble and the buildings and then stretched across great distances, to other places.

"Bubblegum… Is that you?" Marceline asked in disbelief.

The pink goo had changed since the last time Marceline had seen it, which was 200 years ago, shortly after she had become a vampire. Back that it was shapeless and runny, and there seemed to be a very limited amount of it. Marceline pulled back one of the strands and it sprung back into place like an elastic band. She stood there, waiting for the smiling face on Bubblegum to swim into view, like it usually did, but it didn't come.

Marceline frowned. She had no idea what Bubblegum was, so she had no idea what had happened to it. Maybe it had died? Maybe it had grown up? Then again, it may have simply been something else entirely. Marceline also had no idea if she was in the same city where she had last seen Bubblegum, that had been a long time ago and the city had been more or less intact back then.

Marceline sighed. Bubblegum, or whatever it was, was certainly interesting, but for the time being, it didn't seem like it affected her. It was getting late though, and the sun would be up soon. Marceline repositioned her backpack on her shoulders and floated off to find an intact building to sleep in.

* * *

The next morning, Marceline looked out onto the street. The sun was beaming down and glistening off Bubblegum. Nothing much seemed to have changed overnight. Usually, Marceline would just stay indoors all day, since she didn't like having to rely on a hat or umbrella to keep her from dying, but that day, her curiosity compelled her to leave her temporary home. She shrugged off her backpack and fished around in it until she found a collapsible, black umbrella, then she slid the handle of her axe through a loop in the back. She opened the umbrella and flew into the sunlight.

As Marceline swept low, over the city, she was forcefully reminded of when she was ten, and she and Simon had read one of the Sherlock Holmes books together, and for the next couple of weeks, Marceline had kept making Simon hide things for her to find using deductive skills of her own. Marceline sighed and pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind so she could focus. Bubblegum was spread over the entire city, in the same, web-like form, with no clear pattern, or purpose. She landed in a small garden square and looked around. The vampires she had killed a few days ago had given her reason to believe that there were more vampires there, besides the artist, maybe they knew something. Marceline sighed and threw caution to the wind.

"Hello?" She called, at the top of her voice. "Is there anyone there?"

Not five seconds later, a mighty explosion sent tremors through the ground Marceline was standing on. She frantically spun around and noticed a column of smoke rising, about half a mile away. She flew towards it as fast as she could. Deciding to make up for her lack of caution earlier, Marceline turned herself invisible, a little trick she had figured out just a few decades ago. If she held her umbrella closely enough, it vanished too.

She rounded a corner and saw a large scorch mark, covering another small square. Marceline immediately noticed two things. Firstly, several chunks of Bubblegum had been blasted loose by the explosion, and were writhing around on the ground like fish out of water. The other thing Marceline noticed was a figure, lying face down at the centre of the scorch mark. Very rarely, Marceline had encountered… 'people' who weren't vampires, most of them had extraordinary powers which Marceline couldn't, for the life of her, explain. Then again, she could turn into a giant bat monster at will, so who was she to criticise?

Assuming this to be one of those individuals, Marceline flew forwards, maintaining her camouflage. The person was an adult man, with shaggy, black hair. She shook his shoulder gently.

"Hey. You ok, dude?" She whispered.

The man made no response. Marceline rolled him over and jumped. It wasn't a man at all, but a crudely made dummy. The clothes were stuffed with bits of rubble and plants, and the head was a balloon with a wig. Someone had drawn on a grinning, spectacled face, with a tiny speech bubble that said, "Gotcha!"

Immediately, there was a searing pain up Marceline's back that made her drop her invisibility, like someone was shooting a flamethrower at her. She screamed and huddled under her umbrella, but then the same sensation came at her from the other side. Marceline frantically writhed around trying to shelter herself with the umbrella, but there was no escape. All around her, people were emerging on the rooftops, from under the rubble or from hiding places within the buildings. Almost a hundred people appeared, all of them wearing radiation suits and holding full-length mirrors, which they used to reflect the sunlight directly at her.

Marceline couldn't muster the energy to fly away, she could barely hold up the umbrella anymore. Her skin began to boil and smoke, and she could feel her very life force begin to slip away from her.

"Stop."

It all stopped. The mirrors were redirected with pinpoint precision, so now the beams of light surrounded Marceline like the bars of a cage. Whoever they were, they had clearly spent a great deal of time rehearsing for this. Desperately trying to regain her strength, Marceline trembled as she pushed herself onto her right hand and knees, still holding the umbrella over her.

The person who had ordered her assailants to stop walked across the square towards her. She was a woman, around 25 years old. She had dark skin and bushy, black hair. Her clothes were the trendy, impractical kind that only a vampire could afford to wear in the post-apocalyptic world. Further supporting this theory was the oversized sunhat she wore. Marceline suddenly realized that all of her attackers must have been vampires, hence the radiation suits. She had seen this coming since the very moment she declared war on vampires. She even said it to Archie. She just hadn't expected to fall into their trap so easily.

"Marceline the Vampire Queen…" The woman said, a mixture of smugness and patronizing pity in her voice. "It's an honour to finally meet you. The name's Kendra, I'm the _new_ Vampire Queen. Sure, I may not be able to morph into all manner of fancy monsters, but I don't plan on making the whole world my enemy, so I think I'll do ok."

Marceline looked up at Kendra in contempt, and struggled to her feet. She scowled at her silently. She had nothing to say to her.

"Light her up." Kendra said, with a grin.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The searing pain only came back for a split-second. Marceline closed her eyes, and braced herself, but she was even able to stay on her feet. Suddenly, the air was filled with the muffled screams of the vampires, through their radiation suits, and loud, crashing sounds. Marceline opened her eyes and blinked twice, to make sure they weren't playing tricks on her.

Bubblegum had come to life.

Like some colossal beast from the ocean's depth, pink tendrils filled the air, ensnaring the vampires and even tearing down the buildings they were hiding in. The vampires cried out in terror and took to the air like a flock of pigeons, being chased by a cat.

"Cowards!" Kendra cried up at them. "She's still alive, down here!"

Kendra looked back down and cried in frustration. Marceline was gone. Two buildings away, Marceline flew along, very close to the ground, hating herself. That was the first time she had had to run away from anything in 200 years. She should have known better than to fall into such an obvious trap.

She swept around a corner, flew into a cleaned out shop and rested on the floor to catch her breath. More strands of Bubblegum were spread around the shop. Marceline stroked one gently.

"Thanks Bubblegum." She breathed, still trying to come to terms with what Bubblegum had done.

Suddenly, Marceline realised that Bubblegum's texture was different to how it had been last night. It was firmer and as Marceline stroked it, flakes of it seemed to stick to her hand. Before Marceline's eyes, Bubblegum slowly turned grey. The alternate colour creeped along the tendrils from outside the shop, and a moment later, they started to crumble from the tips.

"No… NO!" Marceline cried.

Could this be why Bubblegum had never moved before? Had it sacrificed itself to save Marceline? Ignoring her fatigue, Marceline flew from the shop. The moment she stepped out onto the street, one of the suited vampires attacked her. Marceline didn't even turn around, she just drew her axe and swiftly beheaded him, then flew into the air. From higher up, Marceline saw that, although there was a large patch of grey corruption around the square where she had been attacked, Bubblegum was beginning to turn grey all around the city. It was spreading from the outside, towards the town centre.

"Ah cabbage!" Marceline cursed, in a panic.

Whatever had happened, Bubblegum was clearly dying. Marceline spun around, trying to find the centre of Bubblegum, where it was most healthy, in the vain hope that there was a chance of saving it.

Suddenly, a fist connected with the back of Marceline's head. Marceline spun around, to see Kendra, looking at her lividly. Although the punch hadn't even been enough to make Marceline drop her umbrella, it was surprisingly strong for a regular vampire.

"Army or not, my kingdom can't form until you're dead!" She spat.

Marceline rolled her eyes tiresomely. "My friend is dying! Can we not do this now?"

Kendra frowned. "I wish that meant something to me, sweetheart, I honestly do…"

Marceline had already had enough. She needed to help Bubblegum, and chatting to Kendra wasn't going to help her do that. With her one free hand, she swung her axe at her neck, but with impeccable timing, Kendra rolled backwards in the air, dodging the axe and kicking it out of Marceline's hand in one motion.

"Honey, I didn't become the Vampire Queen by winning a beauty pageant. And unlike you, I didn't coronate myself." Kendra sneered.

She flew at Marceline, foot first, but Marceline blocked the kick effortlessly with her forearm. Marceline looked down at cringed, Bubblegum was looking a lot worse, there was hardly any pink left in sight. Even though Kendra wasn't nearly as tough as she thought she was, it would take Marceline a little too long to kill her without her weapon, and she couldn't transform in the sunlight.

In a burst of inspiration, Marceline lurched forwards and swiped Kendra's hat. Floating above Kendra, Marceline put the hat on and kicked Kendra downwards with all her might, then threw her umbrella after her, making sure to throw it past Kendra so that she would fly after it.

As Kendra shot downwards, Marceline flew towards the heart of the city, in pursuit of the fading pink. Underneath her, she saw the flaky, grey branches of what used to be Bubblegum. As Marceline flew on over the part of Bubblegum that was still pink, she noticed Bubblegum seemed to get more and more concentrated, the deeper into the city she flew. Eventually, she came across a colossal football stadium that seemed to be its source. Marceline flew over it, there were so many strands of Bubblegum, Marceline could barely get inside, but she forced her way through. It was like being in a gigantic, squishy cave. As Marceline neared the floor of the stadium, she saw something else that was new.

At the bottom, cradled by hundreds of strands of Bubblegum, which stretched from it, was something gigantic and pink, twice the size of a car and with a velvety, layered texture, like a gigantic, pink cocoon. Underneath the thing, Bubblegum simply stopped, leaving twenty feet of space between it and the bare soil on the floor of the stadium.

Marceline stared at the thing and immediately concocted two theories. Either it was a heart or some other kind of vital organ Bubblegum had developed in the last 200 years, or it was the thing that was hurting Bubblegum, like a tumour. Marceline gritted her teeth and jittered in the air. Bubblegum was running out of time, and if Marceline drew the wrong conclusion, she would almost certainly kill it.

She ran the palms of her hands along the thing, and gently scratched it with her fingernails, hoping Bubblegum would give her some kind of indication, but none came.

Marceline cried out in anxious frustration as grey flakes started to rain down and lifeless, grey strands of Bubblegum detached from the rest and draped to the stadium's floor. Going for broke, Marceline flew at the pod-like thing, fist first, hoping to do Bubblegum some good. As soon as Marceline's fist made contact with the pod, her heart skipped a beat. The pod's consistency had changed since she touched it, just a few seconds ago. It had been soft but firm, like a tennis ball, but Marceline's fist plunged into it like it was a water balloon.

Marceline cried out in disgust as thick, pink liquid seeped out of the hole and over Marceline's arm. She tried to pull her hand out but it was stuck. Overhead, the last of Bubblegum's life seemed to simply fade away, closing in on the pod as it did. There was no doubt in Marceline's mind anymore. This thing had killed Bubblegum, it was like some kind of parasite that had latched onto it and sucked it dry.

Suddenly, the pod, still Bubblegum Pink, dropped and fell to the ground, dragging Marceline with it. As it landed, it cracked around Marceline's hand and split in two. Marceline backed up and braced herself for whatever kind of bloodsucking demon was about to emerge. The two halves fell apart and sat on the soil, each one full of the pink goo, like a small bath.

Immediately, a figure rose out of one of the pools. It was a girl, Marceline's age. Although it was hard to tell, as she was covered in pink goo, but she seemed to be pink all over, including slightly darker pink hair, which ran down her back. She wore an elegant, pink, ball gown. Marceline watched speechlessly as the girl clambered out of her pod in a daze, and tottered over to Marceline like she was drunk out of her skull.

The girl stared up at Marceline, her eyes barely open, and whispered, "I know you…"

And with that, the pink girl collapsed, face first, where she stood.

* * *

**Ok, be honest, did you think PB was coming out of that thing naked? If so, shame on you! Shaaaaaaameee!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Marceline sat on the soil of the stadium, with the pink girl's head resting on her lap. Marceline's suspicions about whatever was about to come out of the pod had dwindled dramatically as soon as she had emerged and fainted. If Marceline had just drained the energy from a creature the size of a city, sleepy is the last thing she'd be. Although she had fainted, the pink girl kept mumbling things in her sleep, so Marceline was convinced she was alright. She had decided on a whim that keeping her head elevated would help her circulation, but seeing as she didn't know what the girl was, she had no idea if that, or anything else would actually help her.

The girl's face was warm and soft, like a peach, and her hair had the exact same consistency as Bubblegum used to have, back before Marceline was a vampire, which made Marceline think maybe she was connected to Bubblegum more closely than she had thought. Perhaps she was Bubblegum's child and Bubblegum was one of many creatures that died when they had children, and one day, this girl would become a gigantic web of pink goo. If so, she owed it to her old friend to keep the girl safe. On the off chance that that was the case, Marceline decided that, even if the girl attacked her, that she wouldn't fight back unless she absolutely had to.

Marceline was continuously troubled by what the girl had said. "I know you." Marceline had certainly never seen the pink girl before. And another thought kept creeping its way to the front of Marceline's mind, much to her annoyance. The girl was _really _pretty.

Suddenly, Marceline's train of thought was interrupted. Two soft hands pressed against the sides of Marceline's face. Before she could react, the girl sat bolt upright and pressed her lips against hers. Taken aback, Marceline flailed her arms and tried to scream. Eventually, the pink girl leant back, seeming to share Marceline's shock.

"Oh goodness, that wasn't right, was it?" She asked, sounding panicked and apologetic.

The girl stood up. She brushed down her dress and patted her hair down in a panicked frenzy. Marceline stared at her silently.

"I'm sorry, I can't remember what the proper greeting is… We've just met… You have black hair, wait, that isn't relevant… Oh!"

The girl forcefully extended her right hand at Marceline and smiled. She waited patiently as Marceline hesitantly floated forwards. Marceline took her hand and the girl shook it enthusiastically.

"Ich bin Kaugummi. Es freut mich, sie kennen zu lernen." The girl said, happily, letting go of Marceline's hand.

Marceline stared at her, silently. With a million questions in her head, she had simply decided to wait for the girl to explain herself first. Noticing Marceline's confusion, the girl looked up thoughtfully.

"Wait… what language was that?" She asked quietly. "My name's Bubblegum, it's nice to meet you." She tried again. "I'm sorry… my brain's a little floopy, I think I might have woken up a little too early…"

There was an awkward pause, after which, Marceline had had enough. "What are you!?" She blurted out.

Bubblegum frowned as she processed the question. She ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. "There were little green things… and snow… and chicken soup…"

Marceline remembered all too well the time Bubblegum was talking about.

"What about it?" Marceline asked, not appreciating being made to think of Simon again.

Bubblegum gently took Marceline's hands and smiled at her. "That was when we first met!"

"That was you?" Marceline asked.

"Ja, ich habe seitdem…."

"You're speaking German again." Marceline interrupted.

"I'm sorry." Bubblegum said apologetically. "But yes, that was me. After you left me, I spent around fifty years growing, and then I started to develop this cocoon so I could grow my new bod in. My old one was pretty rad, but having fingers is wicked cool."

She wiggled her fingers as she spoke.

"So… you _are_ Bubblegum? _My _Bubblegum?" Marceline asked, beginning to understand.

Bubblegum smiled warmly and stroked the side of Marceline's face. "My vampire…" She replied, absent-mindedly.

Slowly, and without warning, Bubblegum collapsed forwards again. Marceline quickly stepped forwards and caught her, then screamed in shock. Bubblegum seemed to be melting in her arms. Her hair dripped downwards, her face elongated, even her gown seemed to be affected. Bubblegum closed her eyes and shook her head like she was shaking water out of her hair, and slowly, she reverted.

"What's wrong with you?" Marceline asked, concerned.

She let go of Bubblegum and she walked past her, weakly.

"I told you, I woke up too early. I wasn't supposed to come out for another hundred years…"

She turned around to face Marceline and her eyes widened. She looked up, above Marceline's head. Marceline spun around. Peering through the grey canopy above them, were three of the radiation suit-wearing vampires from earlier.

As soon as they realised Marceline had seen them, they scrambled back upwards, screaming, "SHE'S HERE! WE FOUND HER!"

* * *

**The Whovians amongst you will have recognised the "My Bubblegum. My vampire" bit as an amended line from the Doctor Who episode, "The Doctor's Wife".**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"GET BACK HERE!"

Marceline morphed into a giant bat monster and tore away at the dead Bubblegum like a dinosaur tearing at bramble, as the three vampires clambered away, desperately. Marceline tunnelled upwards, furiously tearing the grey strands out of her way as she did. As she climbed, she caught up with the first two vampires, crushing them with one hand, like insects. She reached the surface a split second before the last vampire, and thrust her arm into the daylight, but just managed to swipe at his feet as he flew as high as he could.

"SHE'S HERE! SHE'S HERE!" He cried.

Marceline quickly withdrew her hand, reverted her form and gasped in pain. She patted her arm down as smoke spewed from it. Her arm healed just seconds later, and she shot down the hole she had dug towards Bubblegum. She found her, standing amongst the shredded remains of her former body, staring intently at her own reflection in one of the pod halves. She seemed to have forgotten all about the vampires she had seen, just seconds ago. Marceline flew down to her and took her hand.

"Come on, we need to go!" She said, urgently.

Marceline began dragging Bubblegum towards the door that led to the stadium's interior, but Bubblegum protested and pulled against her, like a child going home from the beach.

"Noooo! Wait!" She whined.

"The vampires are on their way! The bad ones!" Marceline reminded her. "You know what those are, right?"

Bubblegum didn't answer and just persisted on trying to get Marceline to let go of her hand, until eventually, she reluctantly did. Bubblegum put her hands on Marceline's shoulders and turned her around, and began rummaging through her backpack. A moment later, she retrieved a gleaming, silver thermos. Bubblegum walked back to her pod, opening the thermos and pouring out the water, mixed with red food colouring as she went.

"Ahh dude!" Marceline protested, but Bubblegum didn't respond.

She knelt down by the nearest pod half and submerged the thermos, filling it with the pink goo. Then she stood up and secured the thermos' cap, smiling at it, happily.

"Can we go now?" Marceline asked, irritably.

"Ja! Lassen uns gehen!" Bubblegum said, decisively.

She ran towards Marceline, but had to stop, after just a couple of steps. She doubled over as she caught her breath. Little pink ripples seemed to run over her clothes and hair. Marceline sighed, she was done wasting time. She flew straight at Bubblegum and swept her off her feet, so Bubblegum was sitting on her arms.

"I feel like a princess!" She giggled happily as Marceline flew from the stadium grounds as fast as she could.

The interior of the stadium had no windows and as a result, was pitch black. Marceline had had perfect night vision, even before she became a vampire, Bubblegum, however, didn't seem to share her nocturnal aptitude. As soon as they entered the darkness, her smile vanished. She wrapped her arms around Marceline and buried her face in her hair. Marceline tried to focus as best she could, but the sugary fragrance coming off the pink girl was intoxicating. She snapped herself out of it and kept flying. She swept along the outskirts of the stadium, flying over piles of disintegrated hot dogs and team banners, until eventually she arrived at the large, entrance room.

There were twenty vampires, lined up in front of the door, waiting for her, all of them armed with stakes, fence posts and other wooden pointed objects. They didn't bother to taunt or threat Marceline. Instead, they flew at her the second she came into view. Marceline dropped Bubblegum and pounced towards them, like a lion. In midair, she transformed into a colossal, black tentacle monster, and engulfed all twenty of the vampires in seconds. They frantically stabbed at her writhing limbs with their weapons, but it was no use. One by one, she crushed the life out of them, each one accompanied by another wisp of smoke. Marceline shrunk down to her usual form, and the vampire's weapons clattered to the ground.

She turned around to look at Bubblegum and snarled angrily. Three more vampires had followed them through the stadium's corridors. One of them had an arm wrapped around Bubblegum's neck and a stake poised under her chin. Bubblegum whimpered fearfully, futilely trying to free herself.

"Alright, that's enough! Just don't move and your pink friend here doesn't need to get hurt."

True to his demand, Marceline stood like a statue, looking at the vampires with a glare that could cut diamonds. Seeming surprised that Marceline had complied, the vampire continued.

"O… Ok… One of you go get Kendra."

There was a pause.

"I can't move!" One of the other vampires cried.

"Neither can I!"

"I'm stuck!"

The vampires panicked and shouted over each other, none of them noticing the red gleam that had appeared in Marceline's eyes. Suddenly, the vampire holding Bubblegum shone blue and, like a string puppet, he let go of Bubblegum and his arms flew above his head. Bubblegum immediately ran over to Marceline and hugged her, with tears in her eyes. Marceline felt like she should hug her back, but for the moment, she was concentrating. Like disgraced samurais, the three vampires plunged their wooden weapons into their own chests and faded away. Marceline wrapped her arms around Bubblegum comfortingly, if she had been alarmed by Marceline's display of power, she wasn't showing it.

"We gotta go, Bubblegum. Can you run?"

Bubblegum nodded. "I think so." She said, nervously.

Holding Bubblegum's hand, Marceline ran across the room, bending down to pick up a fencepost one of the vampires had dropped as she ran, and ran outside, still protected by Kendra's sunhat.

Marceline ran outside and her heart froze. Her plans of sneaking Bubblegum to safety shattered before her eyes. Waiting for her outside, were the remaining seventy vampires, surrounding them from every angle, with wooden weapons poised. A good distance away, Kendra stood on top of a building, scowling at Marceline from underneath her umbrella. Marceline stood in front of Bubblegum, shielding her as best she could.

It was promising to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Marceline's eyes raced around, analyzing the vampires. She studied which ones were closest and which seemed the most confident with their weapons. It seemed like her inability to transform in the sunlight might just be her undoing. Several more vampires had already floated between them and the stadium. Marceline's train of thought was interrupted by a tugging on her sleeve. She turned around to see Bubblegum gazing at her with distress in her eyes.

"Marceline… Ich fuhle mich unwohl…"

Marceline didn't need to speak German to tell that Bubblegum was not well. As her concern for Bubblegum swelled within her, she was made to ask herself, had she become this girl's mother?

Suddenly, the vampires dived at her, but Marceline was ready. She shot at them like a bullet, and before they could even react, she had already vaporised three of them with her fence post. The rest of them turned on her and began swarming around like mosquitoes. Marceline blocked and kicked and stabbed, but she only had so many limbs. She staked one vampire after the other, but it was a losing battle. On several occasions, the vampire's wooden weapons scored blows that would kill a mortal in seconds, and it was only by relying on her instincts that she avoided any blows to the heart.

Almost twenty minutes later, Marceline's strength was all but spent, and there were still over forty vampires left. With a blow to the back of the head from one of the vampires behind her, Marceline fell from the air and landed hard, on the ground. The stadium behind her still offering her the slither of shade she needed to survive. As the vampires descended on her, like angels of death, Marceline's only thought was that she hoped they didn't hurt Bubblegum after they killed her. A moment later though, her heart sank. Bubblegum strode over and stood over Marceline with her hands raised defensively.

"NO!… You… leave her…" She panted, between laboured breaths.

She was trembling and sweat glistened on her face. The nearest vampire grinned through the visor of his radiation suit. He floated down to Marceline and pushed Bubblegum away from her with one hand. Bubblegum fell to the floor and lay there, lifelessly as the thermos she had been holding rolled across the road. The vampire laughed a cruel laugh. Marceline wanted nothing more than to punch a hole in his visor and make him stare at the sun, but she could barely move. The vampire knelt over Marceline and raised a stake. He turned to face Kendra, as if waiting for a signal, and a moment later, it seemed like he had one. He readied the stake and plunged it towards Marceline's heart.

Marceline's eyes were squeezed shut. She wasn't sure if she was dead or not. If she _was_ dead, it felt awfully similar to lying on concrete, just after having seventy vampires beat the stuffing out of you. Marceline opened her eyes and, for the second time that day, had to make sure they weren't playing tricks on her. Bubblegum was standing up and held the vampire's wrist, just shy of it driving a stake through Marceline's heart. Bubblegum's eyes were shining like pink lighthouses and dark pink vapour seeped from her skin. Suddenly, she stepped forwards and threw the vampire whose wrist she was holding across the street. He crashed into a building so hard, it collapsed in on itself.

There was a pause.

The braver half of the remaining vampires shot down at Bubblegum, weapons raised. Bubblegum raised her arms and Marceline watched in disbelief, as her hands seemed to morph into pointed needles. She moved like a blur, dispatching of every single vampire that approached her, before a single one of them could prepare an attack. The remaining twenty vampires were the smarter ones. They turned around and fled, flying away in different directions as fast as they could. Without hesitation, Bubblegum ran over to the nearest building, which was still draped in the dead remnants of her former body, and gently ran her hands along the grey strands. The pink vapour coming off Bubblegum transferred to the dead Bubblegum, spreading all along it as far as Marceline could see, and the next second, it came to life once again. Like a colossal zombie, the grey tendrils rose up all over the city and plucked the vampires from the air, one by one, either jabbing them in the heart or simply crushing them to death.

Once every last one of them had been reduced to smoke, Bubblegum turned around. Her eyes and hands had returned to normal and the pink vapour was gone. She smiled at Marceline happily, and collapsed once again. With her strength slowly returning, Marceline climbed to her feet and ran over to her.

"Bubblegum, are you ok?" She asked, hopefully.

Lying on her side, Bubblegum smiled. "That building looks like a person…" She giggled, wearily.

"What?" Marceline asked.

Bubblegum was looking at a building down the street, with windows and a door that kind of looked like a face. Marceline sighed, Bubblegum was as ditzy as she had been all day, but she was fine. Marceline leant down and picked her up again, endearingly.

"MARCELINE!" A furious voice bellowed. Marceline turned around to see Kendra, standing on the roof of a building, down the street. "This isn't over until one of us is dead!" She spat.

Marceline frowned, she was right. Just as she struck terror into the hearts of vampires, Kendra seemed to have a knack of inspiring confidence. If she didn't end it now, it would only happen again. She ran towards the nearest building, so she could shelter Bubblegum.

"Nooo! That one!" Bubblegum cried, pointing at the building she had noticed earlier.

Marceline rolled her eyes and carried Bubblegum over to it.

"Wait! My thermos!"

Marceline cried in frustration. She turned around and beckoned the thermos with a flick of her head. It flew off the ground and into Bubblegum's hands. Marceline carried Bubblegum into the building, and realised it was a small supermarket. She swept the rotten food packets off the counter and rested Bubblegum down on it.

"Are you gonna be ok?" She asked her, worriedly.

Bubblegum nodded. "Ich werde in ordnung sein."

Assuming that to mean 'yes', Marceline turned around and swept from the shop. Bubblegum sat in silence until Marceline returned, a moment later. She put her hands on Bubblegum's shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"Stay here, ok?"

Blushing nervously, Marceline quickly turned around and left the shop again.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Kendra!" Marceline called, flying over the part of the city where Kendra had been.

Marceline was on edge. Kendra knew that Marceline was stronger than she was. She had just seen Marceline dispose of around thirty vampires, and as far as she knew, Bubblegum still had her superpowers, so the fact that _she_ had challenged Marceline made her think that she was very confident, which meant she probably still had a trick up her sleeve.

"I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, Marceline..."

Marceline spun around, and flew down an alleyway, trying to follow Kendra's voice.

"You've really forced my hand… This thing tends to drive me a little crazy…"

Marceline rounded a corner and found Kendra. She was leaning against a building, twirling something around her hand. It was a solid gold crown, embedded with three red gems.

"But you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"

Marceline backed away in terror. After a couple of seconds, she realised that it wasn't Simon's crown, but it was a very similar design, and was probably just as dangerous. Before Marceline could stop her, Kendra lifted up the crown and put it on her head. Kendra's eyes glowed red and her fangs elongated. Her hair flapped around like it was being blown by strong winds.

"My new reign of vampires will be christened with your blood!" She cackled madly.

Marceline flew at Kendra, fists raised defensively, ready for anything… Or so she thought. Kendra moved like a blur, dodging Marceline and punching her to the floor of the alleyway as she passed. Then she kicked her so hard, she crashed through the wall of the nearest building and out the other side, onto the street. Kendra had become impossibly fast and strong, Marceline didn't see how she could beat her, but she was certainly going to try. Kendra strolled through the hole Marceline had made and walked towards her. With the crown on, it didn't seem like the sun fazed her anymore. Marceline got up and flew around Kendra, using all of her combat expertise to catch her off-guard, but it was no use. She threw a punch at Kendra from behind, but she dodged it effortlessly, then turned around and grabbed Marceline's fist. Marceline gasped in pain as Kendra began to squeeze. She collapsed to her knees and winced as the pain became unbearable.

"I _really_ love this crown." Kendra grinned. "But my research led me to believe that its brother is even more powerful! Maybe after I've killed you and your girlfriend, Mr Petrikov should be next on my list…"

Marceline's pain vanished in the blink of an eye as she was consumed by rage. She stood up and jabbed Kendra's neck with her fist. While she was stunned, Marceline followed with a kick to her chest and another, directly in her face. Although she let go of Marceline's fist, Kendra didn't seem that hurt by Marceline's attack. As Marceline scrambled backwards, desperately trying to draw up a battle plan, Kendra walked over to a street sign and tore it out of the ground like a weed. Marceline stared at Kendra, and the next second she was staring at a hazy, red blur, shooting towards her. Marceline's duck was so close, she felt the metal pipe scrape her cheek as it was imbedded in the wall behind her. Kendra pulled out the street sign and attacked Marceline again and again. Each blow got closer and closer to piercing Marceline's heart, and she still felt like Kendra was holding back to torment her.

After a while, Kendra shot forwards so she stood directly in front of Marceline and drove the sign down, past her shoulder and into the ground behind her. While Marceline was stunned, Kendra seized her by the neck and pinned her against a wall.

"The mighty Vampire Queen…" Kendra teased. "Daughter of an unholy god, wielder of unimaginable powers, and a bit of shiny headgear is all it takes to put you in your place…"

Marceline reached up for the crown, weakly. Kendra laughed and threw her at the ground. The red gems in her crown gleamed and she took a deep breath. Like some terrible dragon, she exhaled fire, which engulfed Marceline. She screamed in pain, fully accepting the battle to be lost. She only hoped that Bubblegum would have had the sense to run while she had the chance… But once again, Bubblegum defied her wishes.

A loud creaking sound made Kendra stop roasting Marceline and turn around, just in time to see a colossal mass of concrete and soil hurtling at her from above. She raised her hands and the thing slammed into her with such force, it embedded her up to her shins in the concrete. Marceline looked up in bewilderment. The shop she had left Bubblegum in was alive! Glowing balls of light shone from the windows that were its 'eyes' and it had mighty limbs made of concrete from the road, and it was with one of its enormous feet, that it was pressing down on Kendra.

Bubblegum stood on the building's roof, dramatically, her ball gown rippling in the breeze.

"SIE WERDEN NICHT VERLETZT MEINE VAMPIR!" She screamed at Kendra.

Mustering all the strength she had left, Marceline shot to her feet, pulled the street sign out of the ground and drove it through Kendra's chest. Kendra screamed as she turned into thick, red smoke, from the toes up. As her face began to fade, the crown glowed brightly and, a moment after Kendra dissipated, it exploded. Marceline slammed into the wall behind her, and the giant building creature began to topple backwards, Bubblegum flailed her arms, trying to keep her balance as it fell. Marceline swooped around the living building, and as it crashed to the ground, Bubblegum fell into her arms. She looked up at Marceline, with her usual absent-minded warmth.

"Did we win?" She asked, quietly.

Marceline smiled. "You bet."

Bubblegum smiled happily and narrowed her eyes. Slowly, her skin and hair started to pale, just like her old body had, before it died.

"Bubblegum! No!" Marceline cried.

She sat down on the ground and cradled Bubblegum's upper body, desperately. The shop picked itself up and turned around to face them, it moaned sympathetically. As it leant forwards, several objects rolled out of its open door and rained down in front of it. Marceline turned around and her eyes widened, a cautious smile crept across her face.

"Well I'll be damned…" She muttered.

Lying on the ground, having just rolled out of the shop, was an intact can. On the rotted label, was a barely visible picture of a chicken. Marceline picked it up and pierced a hole in it with one of her fangs. She held it up to Bubblegum's lips.

"Here, drink this." She said, hopefully. "You're gonna feel awesome in a moment."

* * *

Bubblegum got a lot better, and her fatigue quickly started to fade. Over the next few days, she became more and more coherent, like she was rapidly maturing. Once she fully understood it herself, she had explained to Marceline the life-giving properties of the slime from her cocoon. Then, with Marceline's help, she had rounded up all the remains of her old body, divided it into hundreds of tiny piles, and distributed the remaining goo between them.

Around a week after Kendra had been defeated, Marceline and Bubblegum sat on top of a large pile of rubble, watching the commotion in the city before them. The building that had saved Marceline, along with several others Bubblegum had animated, was busy tearing down the ruins of the city, while the little people, made from Bubblegum's old body, (which she had dubbed 'Candy People') were busy gathering the rubble and building new houses. It warmed Marceline's heart to see a city alive with things that didn't want to kill her. It was exactly how she had always pictured the world before the war. The sun had just set, and the two of them were enjoying the cool, night air.

"There's still one thing I don't get, Bubblegum." Marceline said, without taking her eyes off the Candy People.

"What's that?"

"You never told me how you killed all those vampires outside the stadium. I've never seen anyone move like that!"

Bubblegum smiled. "Well the whole reason I was sick was because my new bod wasn't ready for all the energy from my old one. It would have been if I'd woken up when I was supposed to, but because I woke up so early, I had to let it all go. I was lucky to survive at all, even luckier that I had you to nurse me back to health." She smiled gratefully.

Marceline smiled back. She put an arm around the pink girl's shoulder and hugged her. Suddenly, Marceline realised the implications of what Bubblegum had just said.

"Wait, then why did you wake up this early if it was gonna kill you?" Marceline asked, pulling her arm back.

Bubblegum averted her gaze awkwardly and didn't answer. Marceline thought back to before Bubblegum had awoken. "The explosion…? Or…" She gaped at Bubblegum in disbelief as it dawned on her. She remembered Bubblegum coming to life, just as the vampires were about to finish her off.

"I couldn't just leave you to die!" Bubblegum reassured her. "You're my best friend!"

Grinning broadly, Marceline wrapped her arms around Bubblegum and kissed her cheek. "You're my best friend too… Princess."

Bubblegum cringed. "Oh, don't call me that."

"Well you do have subjects." Marceline pointed out.

"Not really. I need to review the serum before they'll have their own free will. Right now, they're basically just robots. But by the time I've cracked the equation, they might have built quite the kingdom…" She admitted thoughtfully. "Think you'll stick around? The Guardians might have their work cut out for them." She asked, referring to the living buildings.

Marceline smiled. She was clearly tempted, but she shook her head. "There are still vampires out there, and I plan to finish what I started. And now I have something to defend from them. If the Candy Kingdom _does_ get attacked, I promise you it won't be by vampires."

Bubblegum smiled at her.

"Well I'd better see you again…"

"You will." Marceline promised.

She stood up. Early in the night was the perfect time for her to head off. She didn't want to leave Bubblegum, but that wouldn't be any less the case the following night, and her detour had been long enough. Bubblegum stood up and hugged Marceline.

"Auf wiedersehen… Vampire Queen."

"See ya… Princess Bubblegum."


End file.
